… Pop culture depictions generally show torture to be effective at eliciting actionable intelligence, often in a ticking time bomb scenario that fails to reflect reality. Similarly, public opinion polls ask about support for torture under the presumption that it works. What impact does framing torture as effective have on […] Read more »
What Is Torture? Our Beliefs Depend In Part On Who’s Doing It.
… This week’s Senate report on U.S. interrogations is the latest stage in a decade-long debate. Americans have talked about torture in different ways, including debating whether to call it torture at all. The Bush administration avoided that language after 9/11 partly because the United States had signed on to […] Read more »
Most Americans believe ISIS serious threat
Most Americans now believe ISIS poses at least a somewhat serious threat to the United States and Americans are growing slightly more hawkish on the U.S. strategy to combat the militant group, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Monday. CONT. Jeremy Diamond, CNN Read more »
Ratings of CDC Down After Ebola Crisis
Americans’ ratings of the job being done by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are down significantly from last year, from 60% saying it is doing an “excellent” or “good” job to 50%. None of the other eight government agencies measured in both years showed a decline. CONT. Jeffrey M. […] Read more »
Resistance to Obama order on immigration
President Obama’s plan to sign an executive order on immigration, expected as early as this week, will meet more resistance than support, a new USA TODAY Poll finds. Close to half of those surveyed, 46%, say he should wait for the new Republican-controlled Congress to act, and another one in […] Read more »
Economy, Anxieties about Terrorism and Ebola Fueled Midterm Discontent
Despite months of employment growth and the lowest unemployment rate since July 2008, more than 6-in-10 Americans think that the country is on the wrong track (62 percent). This negative judgment is fueled by continued economic concerns, coupled with more recent anxieties about the threats of Ebola and terrorism. The […] Read more »